Estar and quedar

Question

I understand that the permanent-temporary rule is not a good one to use for “ser” and “estar”.  However a Spanish speaker told me that it is common to use “quedar” for the location of fixed items, such as buildings or roads, and “estar” for moveable items, such as people.  Is this correct?  Thanks.

Silvia Piriz · Accepted Answer

Hola Marcos R.
Your Spanish-speaking friend is touching on something that is partly true in usage, but it’s important to clarify it carefully.
Spanish uses estar for the location of all people and objects, whether they are fixed or movable:
El museo está en esta calle.
Mi hermana está en casa.
So estar is always correct for location.
However, quedar / quedarse is also commonly used to talk about the location of fixed places, especially buildings, landmarks or places you can visit. It often has a nuance of “is located” or “is situated”:
El museo queda en esta calle.
El hotel queda cerca del aeropuerto.
La farmacia queda en la esquina.
In contrast, we don’t normally use quedar for the location of people or movable items:
✔ Mi hermana está en casa. ✘ Mi hermana queda en casa. (not natural)
So, the simplified rule your friend gave you is useful as a general intuition, but it’s not a strict grammatical rule. It’s simply that quedar sounds natural for fixed places, while estar is used universally.
Hope this clears it up. Happy to give more examples if needed.
Hasta pronto
Silvia

Marcos Reál · Answer

Thanks, Silvia, it makes so much sense.  I’ve wondered about this for some time.